November 2007

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

I wanted to like the new webseries, quarterlife, by thirtysomething creators, Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick. But I truly, deeply, hated it. I'm most upset by how disillusioned I am of "HerskoZwick" (Alan Sepinwall's concoction. not mine). Wow, they just keep on repeating themselves with shows about moody, white, affluent whiners who are hyper-articulate, unrecognized geniuses in their own minds. I think I forgave their flaws in the past, because HerskoZwick actually had something new to say. Now they're just recycling themselves for younger demographics. It is also painfully obvious that they don't understand the concept of blogging, or the minds of young people.

If quarterlife were a parody of HerskoZwick's work, I'd call it absolutely brilliant. Taken as a straight-up drama, the earnestness of it all does the show in. Wow, lighten up people. Where's the humor? Haven't HerskoZwick heard about anti-depressants? Why aren't their twentysomething protagnonists out partying, instead of wallowing in self-pity? Nobody wants to watch a bunch of self-absorbed, narcissistic twentysomethings moping about their quarterlife crisis. At least, I don't.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

You may have heard, the Writers Guild of America is on strike. A lot of people have asked if this helps me. And as much as I'd love the chance to break into Hollywood (and sell all them TV spec and pilots scripts I have on my laptop), I have no intention of ever crossing a picket line. I'm hoping to someday soon be a PAID writer in Hollywood, and these people are out there fighting for my future potential earnings. Using the strike as an opportunity to get work would be a little short-sighted. After the strike is over, I'd be blackballed from the guild and ostracized by my peers. Besides, I have no intention of becoming the studio's bitch. They would love to pay a bunch of non-union writers beans. And most of us would gladly take it for a chance to break-in. But again, they'd just be using us...which isn't a good thing.

In reality, nobody wants to strike. If you're not sure about the issues involved, this video on YouTube explains things clearly.

Also, one of the advantages of being a non-union writer is that I can continue working on my projects without crossing picket lines. I'm currently working on developing two different TV projects -- one with an independent producer and one with my own production company. Come Spring, I will have at least one TV pilot written, shot, and edited. And hopefully, when the dust settles from this strike, I'll have somebody interested in buying it.